Freese and Nichols Hires Full Coastal Resources Team to Open Lafayette Office
Freese and Nichols has opened an office in Lafayette, Louisiana, with a multidisciplinary team of coastal experts: Whitney Broussard, PhD, GISP, Blake Simon and John Oliver.
Whitney brings 20 years of experience in coastal restoration science, water management and GIS and will lead the team in providing client support, strategic guidance, project management and deep local expertise. Blake is a coastal ecologist who will provide GIS and drone-related services. John will provide landscape architecture services with a focus on design and coastal community resiliency.
Whitney Broussard, Blake Simon and John Oliver joined Freese and Nichols opening our Lafayette office.
This is Freese and Nichols’ second Louisiana office, and along with New Orleans strengthens our ability to assist communities in the state and along the greater Gulf Coast. The Lafayette and New Orleans teams are working in tandem to help clients reduce flood risks, protect their infrastructure, and restore coastal systems. The Lafayette office will focus on federal, state and local government projects and plans to continue expanding its staff of environmental scientists, engineers, planners and geospatial technicians.
“Our Lafayette team has a clear passion for improving coastal and water resources, and their sophisticated academic and engineering experience will enhance our services for our clients,” said Robert Chambers, Freese and Nichols’ Environmental and Coastal Science Group Manager.
Whitney is an ecologist who specializes in the application of geospatial technologies to coastal and water resource issues. As a coastal research scientist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he supported the first Coastal Master Plan for Louisiana with a first-of-its-kind vegetation prediction module and developed novel methods for mapping coastal wetlands with drone technology. Since he joined the private sector in 2017, Whitney and his team have provided environmental and geospatial services for federal, state, local government, private and nonprofit clients in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Virginia and Maine.
Whitney received his doctorate in oceanography and coastal sciences from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in geographic information systems from Pennsylvania State University.
Blake also received a master’s in geographic information systems from Pennsylvania State University. His bachelor’s, in natural resources/environmental quality, is from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. John received a master’s in architecture from University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a bachelor’s in landscape architecture from LSU.
Freese and Nichols’ office is located at:
314 Jefferson Street
Lafayette, Louisiana 70501
Phone: 337-541-0348